In the past, therapists improvised motion stops for extremities, such as the hand, that slipped and caused therapists to re-measure the degrees again and again. This caused frustration and the risk of increased injury to patients. Movements of digits (fingers) on the hands are related to types of motion that may need to be restricted to various degrees during exercise and stretching therapy while healing, depending upon the therapy needed. These two types of motion may be generally described as (i) flexion and extension related to opening and closing the hand and (ii) spreading digits apart or retracting digits from a spread-apart position.
Accordingly, there is a need for apparatus for splinting of extremities that can be readily and easily adjusted to provide particular degrees of restriction with respect to one or more of two types of directions that are described above without the need for completely re-splinting an extremity when a change in the degrees of restriction are needed, and to avoid a need to re-splint when slippage of the splint occurs.